Google Apps' new Android notifications for device activations are better than emails

Google Apps is rolling out a new feature to Android accounts that sends direct notifications to users when a new device is activated. This additional security feature has been found to be more effective than sending out emails.

In a blog post, Google stated that when a new device is activated on an Android Google Apps account, that person will now see a notification pop up on any device they have linked to that account. If that user hasn't bought a new device to add to their Google Appsaccount, they can tap on the "Review Account Activity" selection. They can see which devices was activated, along with its location and IP address. If they didn't activate that product, then someone else has their Google Apps account password.

Google says this new security feature will have big benefits over old-fashioned email alerts:

Now users are quickly notified on multiple devices when a new device has been added. This increases transparency to the user of what actions they've performed and allows them to flag any suspicious activity they may be seeing on the device. We've also found that with Android notifications, users are up to four times as likely to review the information as compared to email notifications.

The new notification feature may take a couple of weeks to reach all Android users.